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Friday, July 28, 2017

Some Shows I'm Currently Loving

It's the summer before I move abroad, the lull period before the next phase of my life. WIth very little to do and few obligations to fulfill, I've retreated to television land. Here are some shows I've been enjoying.

1. Finding Carter

A sixteen-year-old girl finds out that the woman who raised her is not her mother, but is, in fact, her kidnapper. Her real family, the one she was taken from at the age of three, lives just two hours away. Talk about an elevator pitch! I can't imagine hearing that premise in those two neat lines and not watching the show. But the best part is that the show goes beyond its premise, and delves into the lives of all its characters. Special shoutout to Maxlor, which is my name for the Taylor-Max ship, and I'm going to write Finding Carter fanfic soon. Too bad the show got canceled, which seems to be a going concern for a lot of great shows.

2. Bunheads

I read about Bunheads in Rainbow Rowell's Landline, in which the MC is an aspiring Amy Sherman-Palladino. I loved Gilmore Girls, but the revival left me a little disappointed, which is why I was skeptical about Bunhead. But guess what? I fell in love with Bunheads, more than Gilmore Girls, and I fell in love with Michelle more than Lorelai (sorry, Lorelai!). It inspired me so much that I started looking for ballet classes in the State College area, and even started writing a few short stories about ballet. Sherman-Palladino is definitely lucky with her leading ladies, and Boo, Ginny, Sasha and Mel were the friends I wished I had in high school. It has some spectacular dance routines and the small town charm that Gilmore Girls had, too. I just wish they'd given more time to mourning Hubbel, and to developing Mel. This show got canceled, too, with a lot left to explore. But Netflix gave us the Gilmore Girls revival, and so, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping the same will be done for Bunheads.

3. Switched at Birth

This show is an 'issues' show, and there's never a time when it's not dealing with some serious problems teenagers and young adults face. But the thing is, it doesn;t feel like an issues show, which was my problem with another hit Freeform show, The Fosters. Also, a huge chunk of it is filmed in ASL, and it serves as bridge between the deaf and the hearing. I loved the alternative route Bay takes to become an artist, and Daphne's aspirations to become a doctor, and also that the show didn't end with neat happily ever afters. It felt like the journey would go on, and the sisters that were switched at birth would always be together.

4. Younger

I forty-year-old woman pretends to be a twenty-six-year old to land a job in the ageist publishing industry. That's another great elevator pitch, and a fresh new take on ageism. Sutton Foster (previously on Bunheads) completely sells the idea that she's in her mid-twenties, and I guess if someone didn't know the story, they'd have no reason to suspect otherwise. Our favorite early 2000s star Hilary duff (of Lizzie McGuire fame) plays the best friend/co-worker. I know a lot of it will look down upon a show that's reminiscent of SATC, but the reality is, that this is a show about women, for women, and that doesn't make a show frivolous.

I'll be on the lookout for more shows to watch, but I really hope I don't come across more great shows that, in my opinion, got cancelled before their time. It really says a lot about how quality of entertainment has very little to do with its life span.

Are there any shows you like that got canceled? Let me know in the comments.